Introduction 3.1

Paul said, "For we know that the law is spiritual:" (Romans 7:14), and "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning,"
(Romans 15:4). The scripture says, "the word of our God shall stand for ever." (Isaiah 40:8), so even though we may not believe that we should always keep
every commandment of God literally, there must be something spiritual in them for us today. This is a bible study examining the instructions where we are told not to
do something on the Sabbath day, and we will be looking for the spiritual understanding that we are meant to fulfil.

#3.11 Do not do our own work

EXODUS 20:8-10
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labour, and do all your work:
10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor
your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your foreigner who is within your gates:

EXODUS 31:15
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to Yahweh: whoeverdoes any work in the
Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

DEUTERONOMY 5:12-14
12 Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as Yahweh your God has commanded you.
13 Six days you shall labour and do all your work:
14 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter,
nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of your cattle, nor your foreigner who is within your gates; that your manservant and
your maidservant may rest as well as you.

ISAIAH 58:13
13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Yahweh, honourable;
and shall honour him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:

Note: This commandment was taken literally in the days of Moses, and on one occasion a man was put to death for
gathering sticks on the Sabbath day (See #3.13), but Jesus showed that human need was above the letter of the law, and on one occasion told a man
to take up his bed and walk on the Sabbath (John 5:8). Today we are still meant to do no work on the Sabbath day, but whenever there is a conflict with the higher
commands of love and mercy, these overrule the command not to work. This Sabbath commandment has also a spiritual significance, and we can see several different
kinds of works that we need to cease from in order to fulfil it, and enter into spiritual rest:

(1) Cease from our own works

(Hebrews 4:10) "For he who is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his."

(2) Cease from the works of the flesh

(Galatians 5:19) "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envying, murders, drunkenness, revelling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that those who do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Every one of "the works of the flesh" are sin, and they are also referred to as "the sins of the flesh" (Colossians 2:11). This is why we must
cease from them. In a spiritual sense, ceasing from the works of the flesh is putting away sin, and is similar to carrying no burden on
the Sabbath day (See #3.15).

(3) Cease from the works of the law

(Galatians 2:16) "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."(Galatians 3:10) "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is
every one who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."

These "works of the law" included the animal sacrifices which were done to cover sin under the law (See
#4.04), and could never justify anybody in the sight of God. The body of Jesus Christ is the only acceptable offering for sin (Hebrews 10:10).

(4) Cease from self righteousness

(Deuteronomy 6:25) "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments
before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us."(Isaiah 64:6) "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnessis as filthy rags;"

Self righteousness is the righteousness that comes through obedience to the letter of the Law in the flesh (Deuteronomy 6:25), [such as the
animal sacrifices (See #4.25)] as was also confirmed by the apostle Paul:

(Philippians 3:9) "And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law,"

We must cease from all self righteousness in order to be justified by the faith of Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16).

(5) Cease from dead works

(Hebrews 6:1) "let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from
dead works, and of faith toward God,"

Dead works are the works that are done through the spiritual death that exists in people (Romans 5:12; 5:14; 7:24). It includes all sin, our own works, the works
of the flesh, the works of the law, and self righteousness. Ceasing from all of these types of work spiritually fulfils the commandment, "But the seventh day
is the Sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work," (Exodus 20:10).

#3.12 Do not cook or gather food

EXODUS 16:22-23
22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the
congregation came and told Moses.
23 And he said to them, This is that which Yahweh has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath to Yahweh: bake that which you will bake today,
and boil that you will boil; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

EXODUS 16:27-30
27 And it came to pass, that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, and they found none.
28 And Yahweh said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keepmy commandments and my laws?
29 See, For that Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days;
every man of you abide in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Note 1: God gave Israel instructions not to prepare food on the Sabbath day, so that food had to be cooked and prepared
ready for the Sabbath, and all they had to do on the Sabbath was eat it. In a spiritual sense, preparing food is equivalent to rightly dividing the word of God
(2 Timothy 2:15), and obtaining the truth from it. When we enter into true spiritual rest, all we will be doing with spiritual food is continually eating it:

(Joshua 1:8) "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate in it day and
night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success."(Psalm 1:2) "But his delight is in the law of Yahweh; and in his law he meditates day and night."

An example of this was Jesus, when he started his ministry, he had already obtained all the truth from God's word. He didn't have to keep going back to
study the scriptures to get some more truth from it, all he had to do was keep on meditating it, and live it.

#3.13 Do not gather sticks or make a fire

NUMBERS 15:32-36
32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found
a man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day.
33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.
34 And they put him under guard because it was not declared what should be done with him.
35 And Yahweh said to Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.
36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

EXODUS 35:3
3 You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.

Note: One purpose of preparing a fire was to cook physical food, so this could be seen as the
same as the previous section (See #3.12 Note). Spiritually it matches up because God's word is like a fire: "Is not my word like as a fire? says
Yahweh;" (Jeremiah 23:29). So when we enter into true rest, we will not be preparing God's word (the fire), by rightly dividing it (2 Timothy 2:15), that
will have already been done. We will just be eating it (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2).
Another purpose of preparing a fire is to keep us warm. Spiritually we could see this as the fire being the Holy Spirit, which sets us on fire for God. John the Baptist said:

(Matthew 3:11) "I indeed baptize you with water to repentance: but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am
not worthy to loose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:"

Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, "I would you were cold or hot." (Revelation 3:15), but he really wanted them to be hot. To be hot for God is to be
filled with the Holy Spirit, and busily going about doing his will. We won't have to work anything up in the flesh, trying to make it look like something is
happening when it isn't, nor will we be seeking to be filled with the Spirit, that is equivalent to preparing a fire. We will be spiritually on fire, and be
spiritually fulfilling the Sabbath commandment, "You shall kindle no fire ... on the Sabbath day." (Exodus 35:3).

#3.14 Do not pluck the ears of corn?

MATTHEW 12:1-8
1 At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Behold, your disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.
3 But he said to them, Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him;
4 How he entered into the house of God, and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only the priests?
5 Or have you not read in the law, how on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless?
6 But I say to you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
7 But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.

Note: It was lawful to pluck the grain (Deuteronomy 23:24-25), but not on the Sabbath day. This was similar to
gathering manna on the Sabbath day which was also forbidden (Exodus 16:27-30), so they were literally breaking the letter of the law. However, Jesus showed
them that human need came above the letter of the law (Matthew 12:3-4; Mark 2:25-26), that mercy (attending to human need) was better than sacrifice (sticking
rigidly to the letter of the law) (Matthew 12:6), and that his disciples were guiltless in the eyes of God (Matthew 12:7). Those who are aware of the spiritual
meanings behind the law, and it is spiritual (Romans 7:14), are free from the bondage of it, and in some cases we
no longer have to keep it to the letter (See Introduction 3). In the
natural sense, reaping is lawful on the Sabbath day for an individual when there is a great human need, but as part of a secular job, or just to make more
money it would be wrong. In a spiritual sense we can see this as the Harvest of souls:

(Luke 10:2) "Therefore said he to them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray you
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest."(John 4:35) "Do you not say, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and
look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."

This then shows us that evangelism, and winning souls for God, which is God's work and not our own, is quite in order on the Sabbath day.

#3.15 Do not carry any burden

JEREMIAH 17:21-22
21 Thus says Yahweh; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22 Nor carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do you any work, but sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

Note: For the Jews this command was literal. When Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda, he told him to take up
his bed and walk (John 5:8). The man was immediately healed, and took up his bed as Jesus had commanded him, but then got into trouble with the Jews because it was
against the letter of the law to carry it on the Sabbath day (John 5:10). However, it was not contrary to the spirit of the law, otherwise it would have been wrong
for Jesus to tell him to do it. Jesus was acting in mercy towards the man by making sure that he did not lose it by leaving it behind. It cannot therefore be a sin
to carry something on the Sabbath day, as long as we walk according to the Spirit. So what spiritual significance is there in this scripture (Jeremiah 17:21-22) for
us today? Spiritually, the heavy burden with which we are laden before we come to Jesus is sin:

(Psalm 38:4) "For my iniquities are gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me."(Isaiah 1:4) "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,"(2 Timothy 3:6) "silly women laden with sins,"

When we come to Jesus this needs to be laid aside, "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us," (Hebrews 12:1),
then can we take his yoke upon us (Matthew 11:29) and become yoked together with him. This will enable his spirit to work through us in order to fulfil God's will
for our lives. Once we have laid aside our sin, then we have spiritually fulfilled the Sabbath commandment, "bear no burden on the Sabbath day," (Jeremiah 17:21-22).

#3.16 Do not buy or sell

NEHEMIAH 13:15-17
15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner
of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food.
16 There dwelt men of Tyre also in there, who brought fish, and all manner of goods, and sold on the Sabbath to the
children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, What evil thing is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day?

NEHEMIAH 10:31
31 And if the people of the land brought any merchandise or food on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on
the Sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the extraction of every debt.

Note: Again, by the letter of the law it was a sin to buy and sell on the Sabbath day. It was work for many people,
and a lot of work was involved to enable them to do it. For example, they brought much food into Jerusalem to be able to sell it, but this involved a lot of human
work, and also work for the animals (Nehemiah 13:15). Everyone was supposed to rest on the Sabbath day, even the animals (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14). We also
should not buy or sell anything on the Sabbath day except where the higher commands of love, mercy, or justice overrule it. So what is the spiritual significance of
this for us today? What is it that we spiritually trade in, and exchange with others? Our business is doing God's work, which still has to be
done on the Sabbath day (See #3.3). So we can preach the gospel, teach God's word, heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, and do it all freely just as Jesus commanded, "freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8). When we
receive the knowledge and power to do it freely from God, together with our needs supplied (Matthew 6:31-33; Philippians 4:19), and minister it freely, then we are
fulfilling the Sabbath commandment not to buy or sell on the Sabbath day.

#3.17 Do not do our own ways, or seek our own pleasure

ISAIAH 58:13-14
13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, fromdoing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of
Yahweh, honourable; and shall honour him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:
14 Then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father:
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.

Note: Not doing our own ways, is the same as not doing our own works (See #3.11), but here we
are told not to do or find our own pleasure also.
Pleasure is likened to a thorn in the parable of the sower, which chokes the word, and prevents us from going on to perfection (Luke 8:14). The phrase, "lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God;" (2 Timothy 3:4), shows that the pleasures of this life are competing with God for our affections, and we are told,
"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:2). Even Moses did this:

(Hebrews 11:24-26) "By faith Moses, when he came to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect to the recompense of the reward.

Jesus has called us to a life of self-denial:

(Matthew 16:24) "Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me.(Mark 8:34) "Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."(Luke 9:23) "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

Satan's golden rule is to please ourselves, but Jesus requires us to deny ourselves. When we deny ourselves the pleasures of this life, and rather please
God as Jesus did (Matthew 3:17; John 8:29), then we will be spiritually fulfilling the command not to seek our own pleasure on the Sabbath day.

#3.18 Do not speak our own words

ISAIAH 58:13
13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Yahweh, honourable;
and shall honour him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:

Note: Speaking only God's words was always God's intention for his people, even in the Old Testament:

(Joshua 1:8) "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth;"

This meant that it should always be in their mouth.

(Deuteronomy 6:6-7) "And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart:
And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down,
and when you rise up."

The New Covenant that the Father made with Jesus was the same:

(Isaiah 59:21) "As for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh; My spirit that is upon you (Jesus),
and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed (the apostles), nor out of the mouth of your
seed's seed (us who have been saved through the words of the apostles), says Yahweh, from now on and for ever."

Jesus kept this commandment perfectly, according to his own testimony he spoke only what the Father told him to say:

(John 8:28) "as my Father has taught me, I speak these things."(John 8:38) "I speak that which I have seen with my Father:"(John 12:50) "whatever I speak therefore, even as the Father said to me, so I speak."(John 14:10) "the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works."

We have the same instruction, because if we are a partakers of the New Covenant God's laws will be written in our heart (Hebrews 8:10; 10:16), and if Jesus
lives in our heart, as he should (Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 4:6), then he will speak through us:

(Matthew 12:34) "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."(Matthew 15:18) "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart;"

We are called to be like Jesus (Luke 6:40; Romans 8:29; 1 John 2:6), and when we are we will be fulfilling this part of the Sabbath commandment, "nor speaking
your own words:" (Isaiah 58:13), every day of the week.
Another way of fulfilling this commandment is to speak in tongues, as they did on the day of Pentecost, when "the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:4).
This is equivalent to praying "in the spirit" (Ephesians 6:18), which we are told to do often.

If you have benefited from reading this study, then please tell your friends about this website.
If you have a website of your own, consider linking to Logos Apostolic website.
To link to this page use: http://www.logosapostolic.org/bible_study/RP208-3ForbiddenSabbath.htm
Please copy and paste this link into Facebook and Twitter to all your friends who don't know how to fulfil the Sabbath commandment.